All I Have Left
by KhAeL
Summary: Series of drabbles of Nod's life with his mom. Ronin, Tara and everyone else already knows her and M.K. and her dad get to meet her, too! Mild RoninXOC will be in some chapters. Will be labeled "Complete" since I have no idea when I can update next. Enjoy!
1. Not a Hard Time

The sun began to set, bathing the forest in an orange, red and yellow glow. Animals, big or small, gathered what they could and were making their way back into their dens while the creatures of the night took their turn to prowl the forest. The Jinn, too, had citizens of the dusk and dawn. Some, already closing their shutters and turning in, some helping the luminescent flowers bloom to light the paths and others already opening shop for the evening's business.

One household in particular wasn't entirely ready to close its doors, though. It missed one more person before the owner could settle in and sleep peacefully until morning.

"Whoa! Easy, girl." Nod wobbled on his saddle as his father's old hummingbird sharply tilted to the left almost crashing them both into a tree. Sonnie was a retired standard Leafman's bird. She had belonged to his father while he was a young Leafman and was then given to their family after she had served her years. Nod remembered he got to ride her with his father a while back and he could remember Sonnie being quite the flier. But now, with her old bones, tired eyes and dulling reflexes, Sonnie wasn't the same bird as she was in her prime. His mother asked him to pick her up from the Bird's Nest, a large nest made to be a gathering place for the Leafmen's birds to relax after a mission or to simply meet and see other birds.

"Oof!" Nod landed face first into the wood at the landing just above their home. Sonnie squawked hoarsely, nudging Nod, trying to help him get up. "I'm up, I'm up." The young man led the bird into it's nest, nestled in between a two high branches, and made sure it got comfortable. "There you go, that's a good girl." Nod ruffled its feather a bit, smiling "D'ya a have a good day today, Sonnie? Met a lot of birds?" Nod was replied with a hoarse squawk and more of the bird's fidgeting. Nod chuckled, fondly stroking it's head "Thought so." Pulling away, he stretched and yelled back a "Night, girl. See ya in the morning." as he jumped down to the front of his house where he could hear a soft humming from the other side.

"Nod? Is that you, dear?"

Puling back the leaves that covered the entrance he grinned. "Hey Ma, I'm home." Adina smiled "Good that you're back home safe, dear. Now don't just stand there and grin like a fool. You know the rules."

"Yes, Ma." Nod groaned at his mother's nagging.

"Take off your shoes and leave them by the door. Same goes for your armor, weapons and helmet. Go straight to the bathroom and-"

"-Get cleaned up, change and be back down here after fifteen minutes, I know, Ma." Nod slumped his shoulders, and started unbuckling his armor. "Geez, I'm grown up now, Ma. Not to mention a Leafman in training!"

Adina chuckled at her son's grumbling _'He's just so much like his father'_. She ruffled his hair as he passed her "Leafman or not, you'll always be my cheeky wittle Noddy." Again grinning after hearing a muffled groan from the inside of her only son's room.

* * *

"So how was work today, Ma? Anything interesting happen?" Scarfing down the last of his soup, Nod sighed happily as he slouched in his seat, rubbing his not-so-non-existent belly. Squeaky clean with your stomach full in a warm house with a warm bed waiting for you to dive in, what more could a man ask for?

"If only Mary Kathrine saw you now." Adina chuckled, gaining her son's attention making him go an embarrassing tomato red. Deciding to spare him from further shame that night, Adina replied "Work was alright. Not many people came in today, which was good. Means most of the Jinn are happy and healthy. That Nali fellow got treated today, though. Wasn't the poor boy in your division?"

"Yeah. Chipmunk incident. At least he's okay now." Nod shrugged. It was the own kid's fault he got too close. Then again, he could have easily made the same mistake if not for Ronin sneering at him. Speaking of Ronin, "Did you get to talk to Ronin, Ma? He looked better during patrol this afternoon, but not much. Plus he got me to do way more extra stuff than the other members of my group, probably to get back at me for telling on him." Nod mumbled the last part.

"Yes I did get to talk to him" Adina sighed, remembering their conversation by the Rings of Knowledge "He's still grieving, dear. Right now, I think all he needs is space. Try not to cause too much trouble for him, okay?" She smiled, giving her son a light kiss in the forehead as she gathered the dishes and started cleaning up.

"I do _not_ give him a hard time." Nod huffed, helping his mother bring the dishes to the small water hole. "It's his fault for following me."

"Now you're starting to sound just like him."

"I do _not_!"

"Whatever you say, dear."

* * *

**Just watched Epic and MAN was it a great movie. Do you think I portrayed Nod alright here? **


	2. You're Never Alone

The warm, prickly heat of the sun, the shimmering leaves on the trees and the light dew on the grass, Ronin sighed. Seeing this day again, re-living it, in a way, brought both happiness and loneliness in his troubled soul.

It had been two years now since Mandrake's defeat. The Boggans have retreated to their original borders, occasionally causing trouble but nothing the Leafmen couldn't handle. The new Queen had settled in for the most part but she was still learning the ways of the forest. Nim took to becoming her tutor, showing her the ways of the Queens before her to give her a better understanding of her duties. Nod was almost done with his Leafman training and is soon to join their ranks. He and M.K., who left for school a few months after Mandrake's fall, still held their unusual relationship together despite their differences and seem to be happy with each other. All in all, the forest was peaceful. Back to normal. _Happy_. But why wasn't he?

"Ow! Hey!" A young yelled in the distance from where Ronin stood "Just because you're the new Queen, doesn't mean you get to use your powers! It isn't fair!"

"Awww, don't be such a spoil sport, Ronin!" The two figures whizzed past the general, leaving him with a sigh. The sight of the then new Queen, Tara, and a young him from the past, spending time together in the meadow, happily teasing, pushing and punching each other without a care broke his heart into a million pieces. It was mid-afternoon in the meadow. He and Tara, along with a few other friends, agreed to meet at the small clearing the same time the previous day. And so, being a man that kept his word, Ronin finished his Leafman training for the day as fast as he could and rushed to the meadow with his best friend, Ullanor, in tow.

"Don't be in such a hurry!" Ullanor chuckled. "The meadow isn't going anywhere and it's two hours early!"

Both men slowed down to a casual walk from their original sprint as a light tinge of pink spread across his cheeks. "I wasn't in a hurry." The young Ronin mumbled, looking away from his friend's knowing eyes.

"What ever you say, Ronin." He grinned jogging a bit ahead of him. "Remember what I said during Tara's coronation?"

"... I remember."

"And don't you forget it."

_Ronin_

A gentle voice snapped the general out of the illusion, a gentle change in the wind distorting the image of him and his beloved Tara in the grass as it ultimately dissipated. Ronin turned.

"Adina." he breathed.

The said woman smiled, a gentle, sad smile and placed her soft hand against his cheek, eventually bringing him to a tight hug. Ronin responded after a few minutes, as reality came crashing back around him. First it was Ullanor, then Tara. His best friend and then his love. Now gone.

"How did you find me?" Ronin's rough voice cracked slightly, which his friend dismissed, as they pulled apart.

She smiled at him once again, with her hand still on his cheek, rubbing soft circles against it "Nod told me." The woman said slowly, breathing in the musky scent of the Rings of Knowledge. "He's worried about you. He said you weren't yourself lately."

Ronin sighed, taking mental note to give the boy a harder time during training for telling on him. "It's nothing, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern." The general replied in a steely tone, gently taking the soothing hand away from his face and making way for the lift up and out of the tree with the woman.

Adina was silent. She always was when she got upset. Ronin tried to ignore the guilt scratching to the surface as he looked at the woman from the corner of his eye. Adina was his friend, his best friend's wife, his charge's mother and now, all he had left from his past. He couldn't get mad at her for worrying. He couldn't argue with her when she lectured him either. Why? Because she went through just as much hell as he is now. Ullanor's death tore her apart. She lost everything but Nod because of it. She knew _exactly_ how he felt, possibly even more. So no, he couldn't get mad at her for worrying, for following him, for wanting the best for him. Ronin sighed for the nth time that day.

"Addie, I'm-"

"It's okay." She smiled up at him as they exited Nim's tree. "It's okay. You don't have to say it. I know what you're going through and I know you need the space. It's just I... get worried. You and Nod are all I have now."

With that gentle yet sad smile on her face, she rested her hand oh his cheek again. "Just know that we love you, Ronin. Nod and I will always love you so don't you ever feel alone. We've both lost something dear to us, but for them, we have to keep living. Okay?"

She stepped back and turned away heading back to the medical ward where she was needed. Ronin couldn't say anything after she left. He never could when she talked to him like that. She was right. They only had each other now. He had to pull himself together. But the regrets and grief from his, no, their loss, still weighed down on him. With a heavy heart, he called for his trusted bird and rode to the borders to begin patrol.

* * *

**Ronin's character immediately struck a chord in me and i just had to make a story based on him. :D Hope you felt the feels reading it as much as I did when writing it!**

**Was he too OOC? I'm worried :I**


	3. Friendly Argument

**This chapter happens before the movie's timeline**

* * *

Boggan activity had been slowly increasing in the past few months and the medical ward was as busy as ever. The tree housing the ward was one of the largest and oldest in the forest. Its hollow trunk had spacious grooves all around the inside of the tree giving room for all its occupants. Various medical herbs and vines thrive within and around the compound, courtesy of Her Majesty, Queen Tara and those before her, making the area one of the most protected in the forest.

"He was **WHAT**?!" Occupants of the east wing shivered upon hearing the shrill voice of their head matron and steered patients and the newer staff far away from the hallway she was in.

"Oh dear."

"He's done it again."

"They both never learn, do they."

The other nurses sighed and prepared themselves for at least another hour of the loud outbursts from her.

Ronin cringed, feeling the familiar ringing in his ears "He's **FINE**. Just a few bruises and sprains, nothing serious."

"_Sprains_? Just how many does the boy have?! Honestly Ronin, when I heard he'd be in your division, I thought he'd be safer! Not skydiving from 50 feet in the air on a boggan's bat!" Adina, red-faced and voice filled with anger and worry, mostly the latter, huffed and glared at her friend.

"It's not my fault the boy's a stubborn, self-centered, thrill-seeker! He barely follows protocol!" Ronin argued just as heatedly, gripping his helmet. "Maybe if you didn't _spoil _him so much, he wouldn't try to get his way with everything!"

"Oh, now you're bringing my _parenting_ into this?!"

"Well you started with all your "_in your division_" crap!"

"Don't tell me how to raise my son!"

"Then don't tell me how to lead my troop!"

"**ALRIGHT! STOP IT!**" A third voice butt in, startling the pair "Both of you just _cool off_!" Finn sighed, running his fingers tiredly through his red hair "You're both bothering the patients and staff here _again_! We have more people coming in!"

Ronin and Adina looked guiltily at anywhere but each other. Finn, after Ullanor, and Tara were always the voices of reason between the two of them.

Putting on his helmet and straightening his back, Finn formally addressed his general. "Boggan troops have been spotted in the south of Twineling Meadow, sir! Permission to dispatch scout groups five and ten, sir!"

Snapping out of his own musings, Ronin nodded "Permission granted. Make sure the rookies don't get in the way."

More orders were exchanged and, after giving Adina a small smile, Finn was off and out of the east wing.

_'Finn's always been so nice to us. It's a shame he and Ull didn't get the chance to know each other better.'_

"I shall take my leave." Ronin spoke, surprising Adina slightly "Nod will be back by sundown. Good day."

Before the general could tun the corner, "Ronin." Adina called out "Mushrooms are in season. I can't finish Nod's leftovers alone."

Unable to suppress a small smirk, Ronin put on his helmet "I won't forget the berries this time."

* * *

**I just wanted to write an argument between good friends :)**


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